Thread-gripping device



(No Model.)

s. W. WARDWELL. Jr.

THREAD GRIPPING DEVICE.

No. 396,183. Patented-M1115, 1889.

e/u/m/W UNITED STATES FFICQE.

PATENT SIMON \V. \VARDlVELL, JR, OF \VOONSOOKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO VILLIAM P. EARLE, TRUSTEE, OF BROOKLYN, NElV YORK.

TH READ-GRIPPING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,183, dated January 15, 1889.

Application filed August 26,1886. Serial No. 211,944. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIMON V. \VARDWELL, J12, of Woonsocket, Providence county, Rhode Island, have invented an Improved Thread- Gripping Device, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to grip a traveling thread or cord absolutely at intervals without the use of the usual movable gripping devices, and this object I effect by forming a V-shaped grip-slot in some part of the machine and by deflecting the thread out of its normal path into said slot whenever it is to be gripped, as fully set forth hereinafter, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end view showing partof the revolving take-up of a sewing-machine and illustrating my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section 011 the line 1 2, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section 011 the line 3 4, Fig. 2.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention I have shown it in connection with the take-up contrivance constituting the subject of an application for Letters Patent filed by me on the 7th day of January, 1886, Serial No. 187,907. It will be understood, however, that the invention is applicable to other contrivances where it is required to temporarily bind and release a moving thread or cord.

The parts designated by letter represent parts of the said take-up contrivance, A being a revolving wheel provided with peripheral ribs 19 b, notched to form shoulders a: '00 to catch the thread as the wheel revolves in the direction of its arrow.

C is the spool, mounted on p a fixed spindle, d.

E is a bracket supporting or constituting the tension-head F. The tension-head is a terminal widened portion of the bracket, the ends forming ears c e, the former being cut away to receive a grip-block, 7, which is bolted to the car by a screw-pin, 9, at the outer end, the inner face, 4, of the block and corresponding face, 3, of the head being at right angles to the direction of the ribs 1) b.

In the eare is a slot, y, through which the thread .2 is conducted from the spool C, and

thence passes across the end of the head F to and between the faces 3 4 of the gripblock and head and past a guide-pin, 12, and through suitable guides to the needle.

The bracket E supports a retaining-bar,D, having a terminal hook, f,with an inclined edge, e, below a shoulder, a, and the shoulders new of the ribs Z) I) catch upon the transverse portion of the thread and carry it onward until it is brought over and rides up the inclined edge e, and is thereby released from the shoulders 00, but catches upon the shoulder 10, and is there for a moment retained until the projecting parts ofthe ribs pass from opposite the retaining-bar, when the thread will slip from the shoulder a and again take a straight course, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2, and as fully set forth in the specification of my other application before referred to.

It is desired to grip the thread absolutely at the point where it is in contact with the head F before crossing the ribs 1) b, and this grip is effected with certainty and automati-' cally by the grip-block 7. The lower face of the grip-block is inclined upward. at the inner corner, as shown in Fig. 3, this inclined face 8 forming, with the upper face, 2, of the ear 6, a narrowing slot, 5.

As long as the thread is in the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2, it can pass freely between the faces 3 at, sliding over the face 3 but the instant the shoulders or; a move the thread out of the line of the face 3 it is carried into the slot 5, and is wedged therein so firmly that it cannot be drawn longitudinally, as before, and the loop or bend formed by the moving shoulders 00 00 must be madewholly from thread drawn from the forward end of the machine. The thread is thus absolutely gripped until it is released from the shoulder 10, when it' resumes the direction shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2, passing easily without friction or resistance from the notch 5, into which it is again carried and wedged when next deflected from its straight course.

To keep the thread taut, a slight resistance is applied thereto at some point between the Thus a thin spring- IOO In the al)ove-deseribed devieethe principle which governs ordinary gripping deviees is reversed. In sueh ordinary deviees the gripping eflieeted lrvbringing together movable parts, either to pineh the thread direetly or to apply frietion to some part (as a grooved disk) earrying the thread.

In the above-deseribed deviee there are no movable elainping-faees, and the aetion re 3 sults automatieally from the thread being de- 1 'fieeted from the line of its normal path to the needle, and the thread is wedged in the noteh while the take-up draws up and tightens the stitch, and is released simply as the result of resuming its normal position. Thus by the aetion ot' the grip (whieh prevents the possibility of any slipping ot' the thread) I insure the drawing both up and down of a constant quantity of thread and the plaeing of the look at a given point with reference to the top of the needle-plate without regard to the thickness of material being sewed.

As the grip only aets while the thread is being drawn up, it may not be elear at first how it insures the drawin down by the hook of a eonst'ant quantit of thread. This will be evident, however, by supposing that in plaee of this deviee there is a tension deviee through whieh it is possible for the thread to slip, and that the hook has drawn sul'tieient thread from the spool to form a new stiteh and has eomplet ed its loop. For some reason (as a hard spot in the material, pinehing by the presser-toot, the.) this loop may offer more resistance to the action of the take-up than the one before it, the increased resistance being sutlieient to cause the thread to slip through the tension and a small quantity to be drawn from the spool by the take-up.

\Vhen the take-up reaehesthe extreme limit of its draft, it will fail to tighten the stiteh by just the amount of thread whieh it drew from the spool, and 'whieh will appear on the bottom ol. the material in the form of a loop. \Yhen the hook takes its next; loop, it will draw up a portion (possibly the whole) of the loop left by the take-up, and will. only draw from the spool what thread it needs in addition i to the amount drawn up to form the n ext st iteh.

The above-deseribed grip by absolutely preventing any sueh dral't from the spool by the take-up and insuring the regular drawing up of a constant quantity of thread leaves the same quantity to be drawn down by the hook. minus the amount required for the next st'iteh, the only responsibility ol. the hook being to draw the deiieieuey tfrom the spool. 'lhe tightness with whieh the thread is wedgml in the grip-slot is in pro )ortion to the strain it bears while being drawn up by the take-111'). Thus, when sewing thiek material with a large thread, the drawing strain will be heavy and the thread will be very tightly wedged in the slot, while with thin material and small thread the drawing strain will be proportionately less and the thread will be less tightly wedged. In either case it willbe suflieient to hold the thread absolutely. By making the amount of strain on the thread in drawing up and tightening the switeh the measure of the resist anee in the grip-slot to the action of sueh strain l ini'allibly seeure the automatie regulation of the grip and its adaptation to the oharaet-er ol. the thread. This automatie :nlaptability is very important. Theoretieally, any pi nehing or Iiatt ening ol the thread is an injury. Praetieally, it is impossible to avoid some pin(.!hiug ol. the thread; but it is possible to avoid pinehing it unnecessarily.

in those gripping deviees \vhieh aet by motion against: the thread the grip must; be strong enough to hold the largestthread, and in using small thread with sueh a grip it is liableto bepinehed oil or injured so that; it will easily break. The great superiority in this respeet oi the almve-deserilled deviee, where the thread automatieally regulates its own grip, will be apparent.

'lhis deviee takes the plaee of all tension deviees for resisting the aetion ol. the takeup, doing away with tension, as illustrated by those deviees, and substituting a rigid point of anehorage for the thread, placed in sueh relation to the take-up that, invariably, when the latter has reaehed the extreme point of its 1hrow-or the extreme limit of its draltthe stiteh will be properly tightem-d without regard to the thiehness ol nntterial being sewed. Thus the operator is entirely relieved from any eonsideration ol the question of tension.

I have shown the deviee as l'ormed by a notehed head and d(. t'aehable bloek, as this permits the ready eonstruetiou; but it will be evident, that a Vshaped noteh maybe eut in the head or any other part of the maehine. Although I have illustrated. my im u'oved. gripping d eviee in eonneetion with a revolving take-u p ol a peeuliar eonstruetion, it will be evident that it may be used with take-up de viees of other forms and with other applianees l'or del'leetiug the thread from its nor- :mal path into the grip-slot at sueh times as it must be gripped.

It will be evident that thegrip-slot may be formed in difterent parts of the maehine.

\Vithout limiting 'mysell tothe preeise eom st ruetion and arrangement of parts shown, I ela.im

1. The eombinatiml, in the tal e-up of a sewing-machine, of a partol;- the maehine haying a V-shaped noteh adjaeeu t to the normal. path olf the thread, a deiltwtor wlwreby said. thread is carried into said notch and there gripped as the thread is taken up, and a thread-releaser arranged to disconnect the thread from the deflector, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the stationary head F, a revolving shouldered thread-deflecting disk arranged adjacent thereto, a threadgripping notch in said head at right angles to the disk, and a thread-releasing device, as D, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the thread-guides, the stationary V-shaped thread-grip adjacent to the normal path of the thread, a revolving take-up which deflects the thread into the thread-grip during its operation, and a releasing device which disengages said thread from the revolving take-up, substantially as set forth.

at. The combination, with the thread-guides, a stationary thread-receiving notch, and a revolving deflector which deflects the thread from its normal path into said notch, where it is positively h old, of a cast-off or releasing device for disengaging the thread from the deflector and notch and a pressure device arranged to apply tension to the thread between the spool and notch, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with the take-up of a sewing-machine, of a head, F, arranged between the spool and take-up, having the ears 6 6', one of said ears having formed in it a thread-guide slot and the other being provided with a detachable grip-block, 7, ar-

ranged to form a second guide-slot and beveled at the lower face to form a grip-notch, substantially as described.

0. The combination of the head provided with a thread-grip notch, a revolving take-up provided with a rib, a thread-releasing device, and a retaining-bar having a shoulder against which the thread is held until the rib has passed the shoulder, substantially as described.

7. The combination of the take-up, consisting of the revolving ribbed and shouldered disk and retaining-bar having an inclined edge and shoulder, and a bracket or head having a V-shaped notch arranged to receive the thread when deflected by the take-up, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, with a sewing-machine, of a stationary head, F, provided 011 one side with a thread-guiding slot and on the other with a thread-gripping notch, a revolving shouldered disk, and a bar, D, supported by said head and having an inclined edge and shoulder, substantially as described.

9. The combination, in a sewing-machine, of a stationary head, F, having a thread-guiding slot and a thread-gripping notch, a tension device intermediate of said slot and notch, a revolving shouldered disk arranged to deflect the thread into said thread-gripping notch, and a device carried by the head for releasing the deflected thread from the shoulders of the disk, sul'istantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIMON \V/WARDWELL, JR. \Vitnesses:

CHAs. I-I. REEVES, JEFFERSON ALDRICH. 

